Tool supporting tray



C. H. INGWER TOOL SUPPORTING TRAY Jan. 19, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 19. 1948 m/vavro/a mm H lA/GWER iii- Jan. 19, 1954 Q |NGwER 2,666,609

TOOL SUPPORTING TRAY Filed Aug. 19, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVE/VTU/i'.

GAR]. h. lA/GWER 5) p if;

Patented Jan. 19, 1954 I 7 2,666,609 roonsorroarmo TRAY Carl E. Ingwer, Elyria, Ohio, assignor to The Ridge Tool Company, Elyria, Ohio 1 Application August 19, 1948, Serial No. 45,017

7 Claims. (01. 248-165) This invention relates to trays and supporting means therefor and more particularly to a supporting means suitable for use with portable tool stands, such as power threading tools or vise stands.

At the present time, most topl stands of this character, capable of being easily transported to thesite of a particular job and there set up for use, have not had any provision madefor the temporary placement of hand tools .used in conjunction therewith. This has required that separate stands or chests be provided or else the tools are strewn on the ground more or less indiscriminately resulting in frequent loss, as well as resulting in their not being readily accessible to the operator.

My invention provides a simple and convenient method of supportinga tray on the legs of the standard for a tool, requiring in the preferred embodiment, only a minimum of equipment, principally the tray itself.

In the accompanying drawings:v

Fig. 1 is a perspective drawing showing the tray in place on the standard of a common power driven pipe chuck;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of one leg and a corner of the tray;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation c'f'one corner of the tray; 7

Fig. 4 is a similar View of a tray corner showing an alternative embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 5 shows a second alternative arrangement My invention comprises broadly an arrange ment of-pins or the like on the legs of a standard for any of several well known portable tools used primarily in the plumbing and pipe fitting trades. These pins engage slots in the rimof a tool tray to sutooprt the tray between the legs.

More specifically and referring to the drawings, the tool ill which may be a power driven pipe chuck as shown, is mounted on four legs Ha, b, c and d which are customarily pieces of pipe cut to the proper length to hold the tool at a convenient height for the operator. The two front legs I la and l lb may be provided with feet lZaand 12b as shown; The ends l 3 of the legs are engaged in sockets provided in the tool housing, and set screws it serve to clamp the legs in place.

The tool tray 85 is disposed between the legs at a convenient height. This tray may be made of an angle iron framework 36 with a wire mesh or expanded metal bottom. The angle iron frame work then provides a rim to keep the tools-within the tray. Slots ll are out into the rim near each corner of the tray.- Pins it, permanently fas- I tened to the legs at the proper height for the tray engage in these slots and serve to hold the tray on the standard and prevent it from movin in any direction.

An alternative arrangement as shown in Fig. 4 is to have the pins I 8 engage a metal clip H! which is permanently fastened to the under side of the framework ll; of the tray and which forms a slot therewith resulting in a support similar to that previously described.

As is apparent from the figures, the assembly of the device is very simple. The legs are inserted into their sockets with two of the legs i la and I ll) disposed so that the pins may enter into the slots in the tray. The other two legs l to and Ho! are turned with pins extending outward or away from the tray. The tray I5 is then hung on the first mentioned two pins and the legs Ho and H d with the pins which were turned outward, are rotated to move the pins into the slots ii. The legs are then secured in place by tightening the thumb screws Id, and the stand is set up with the tray rigidly secured in place.

A second variation of my invention is shown in Fig. 5. This variation has the advantage that it can'be adapted to existing stands or to the simple vise stand which is built up in the held, to increase their usefulness. In this embodiment the tray I5 is supported between the legs in a manner similar to that first described with the difference that instead of the pin is being permanently installed on the leg, the pin is installed on a tray support bracket which includes a ring 20 that. surrounds the leg and is held in place on each leg by a set screw 2 l, which is threaded through a boss on the bracket and is adapted to engage the leg; The tray support brackets 22 on the rear legs i I0 and t id have no pin but are provided with lips 23 which extend under the tray. The brackets, being adjustable as to height on the legs, are so adjusted that the tray at the rear is secondarily supported the leg itself bearing on the rim of the tray. This second bracket 22 is also secured in place on the leg by a set screw 24. As shown, the first clamp 25 may also have a tray supporting lip 25 to give additional support to the tray. It is apparent that this embodiment can also be easily assembled with a minimum of tools.

Furthermore, it lends itself to a wide variety of such stands. For'instance, it can be used with three legged stands as well as four legged stands, because the front edge of the tray is held against movement in both directions and because the brackets allow a wide adjustment as to height and consequently to difierent width trays.

In the embodiment of Fig. 5, after the initial installation, the tray may. be removed or assembled by merely loosening the set screw 2 on the rear bracket and sliding the bracket downward.

This releases the rear end of the tray, and it may then be moved outward from engagement with the front brackets. In the case of the embodiment of Fig. 1, the set screws 54 which hold the legs are loosened and the legs rotated to turn the pins out of the slots. In each case, the assembly is merely a reversal of the foregoing operations. It is also apparent that after the brackets 26 and 22, of Fig. 5, are once adjusted to a height, the assembly and disassembly of the tray may be effected by loosening the thumb screws id in the rear legs and rotating the legs in the same manner as described for the embodiment of Fig. 1. Therefora'it can be seen that it only takes a few seconds to set the device up, and that after it is set up the tools are supported in a convenient place for use. Due to the structure of the bottom of the tray, dirt, chips and the like fall through and do not accumulate.

Having thus described my invention, 1 am aware that numerous and extensive departures may be made, therefore, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a portable stand having a plurality of legs, a tray disposed among said legs, and means for supporting the tray in position on the legs including at least one portion along the marginal edge of the tray provided with an elongated horizontal slot, and at least one of the legs having a member extending horizontally therefrom and swingable in a horizontal plane, said member being engageable with said horizontal slot of the tray to extend through the slot by lateral swinging movement of said member and whereby the tray is held in position on the legs against upward and downward movement.

2. In a portable stand having a plurality of legs, sockets on the stand receiving the legs, at least one of the legs rotatably fitting in its socket, releasable means for holding said last mentioned leg in its socket against rotation, a tray disposed among said legs, and means for supporting the tray in position on the legs against upward and downward movement, said means including at least one portion along the marginal edge of the tray provided with an elongated horizontal slot, and a member on said rotatably adjustable leg fixedly secured thereto and extending horizontally therefrom, said member being engageable with and disengageable from the slot of the tray by rotary movement of said leg in its socket.

3. In a portable stand including four legs, sockets on the stand to receive the legs and in which the legs rotatably fit, releasable means associated with each of the sockets to hold the leg mounted therein against rotation, a tray of general rectangular shape disposed among said legs, and means for supporting the tray in position on the legs against upward and downward movement, said means including four portions along the marginal edge of the tray each provided with an elongated horizontal slot, and a member on each of the legs fixedly secured thereto and extending horizontally therefrom to swing in a horizontal plane when the leg is rotated in its socket, said members each being engageable with and disengageable from one of the slots of the tray by rotary movement of the leg in its socket.

4. In a portable stand including four legs, and sockets on said stand to receive said legs and in which the legs rotatably fit, releasable means associated with each of the sockets to hold the leg mounted therein against rotation, a platform means disposed among said legs and having a vertical rim portion, and support means for said platform means, said support means comprising pins affixed to said legs and extending horizontally therefrom, and slots formed in the vertical rim of said platform means to receive said pins upon rotating the legs in their sockets to swing the pins horizontally.

5. In a portable stand including four legs and socket means on the stand to receive said legs and in which the legs rotatably fit, releasable means associated with each of the sockets to hold the leg mounted therein against rotation, a platform means disposed among said legs, and support means for said platform means, said support means comprising pins affixed to said legs and extending in a horizontal plane, and bracket means afiixed to said platform means extending along marginal edge portions thereof and forming therewith horizontally extending slots to receive said pins upon rotating the legs in their sockets to swing the pins in a horizontal plane.

6. In a portable stand including legs extending in downwardly diverging relation to each other toward their free ends, socket means on the stand to receive the legs, a platform means disposed among the legs having an upstanding rim portion, two horizontally extending slots in the front part of said rim portion, two front platform supporting means, each formed with a cylindrical leg receiving opening, screw means for clamping said platform supporting means to said legs, a pin on each of said supporting means extending horizontally therefrom and swingable in a horizontal plane to engage said slots in the platform means, and rear platform supporting means formed with a cylindrical leg receiving opening, screw means for clamping said last mentioned platform supporting means to said leg, and lip means on said last mentioned platform supporting means disposed to engage the undersurface of said platform means for the support thereof.

7. In combination with a stand having three or more outwardly diverging legs, a tray for support between said legs including an angular iron frame having an open mesh bottom, a bracket for engagement with each one of said legs to support said tray, each bracket including an annular leg embracing portion, and screw means to lock said leg embracing portion on the leg, means on each of said brackets extending horizontally therefrom for engaging the bottom of said tray, at least one of said legs being inclined at such an angle that the top of the tray engages at its upper edge with the leg itself, and the bottom of the tray opposite the point of engagement of the upper edge of the tray with the leg being engaged and supported by said last mentioned means.

CARL I-I. INGWER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,023,181 Uhl Apr. 16, 1912 1,574,608 Cordley et a1. Feb. 23, 1926 1,667,913 Weston May 1, 1928 1,735,879 Reynolds Nov. 19, 1929 1,762,776 Gardner June 10, 1930 2,150,795 Beckwith Mar. 14, 1939 2,368,382 See Jan. 30, 1945 

